


Ties

by Avrilsky, Kendrene



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Minor Injuries, Sleepy Cuddles, Wynonna and Nicole brOTP, basically filling in a scene we didn't get to see, wayhaught cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 13:11:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13614069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avrilsky/pseuds/Avrilsky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendrene/pseuds/Kendrene
Summary: “I said,” Wynonna made a show of snapping the band that kept the folder close before pushing it back across the table, “that I. Don’t. Care.”“You...don’t?”Her sister shook her head, impatience flickering through her face.“You are an Earp. I don’t care about blood tests or DNA. You are an Earp.” Wynonna’s voice softened and she reached across the table, holding her hands out palm up until Waverly took them.ORAfter Waverly tells Wynonna about the DNA results, and Wynonna asks Nicole's help with a plan she absolutely needs to keep secret, Officer Haught is left with two Earp sisters to care for.





	Ties

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! We're so excited to share this one-shot with you! Sometimes writing means finding co-authors that turn into amazing friends along the way, and I am so happy I got to write something with Avrilsky! She's amazing all around and I can't wait to get onto the next project with her! 
> 
> A big thank you goes to Poligum for doing the editing! We both hope you like the fic! 
> 
> \- Dren
> 
> Hey guys! I am super excited to finally share this fic with you all. Writing this fic with Kendrene has been the most fun I have had writing in a long time. Not only is Kendrene a fantastic writer but also an outstanding person. I cannot wait to get the chance to write with her again and bring you guys more amazing fics. I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> \- Avrilsky

“I don’t care.”

Wynonna shuffled the papers before stuffing them back inside the brown folder Waverly had put in front of her.

“Excuse me?” It was an effort for Waverly to keep her hands from shaking, and so she had hidden them in her lap, clasped around the hem of her thick sweater. Her stomach lurched in a way similar to the sudden drop one experiences inside a fast-moving elevator, and she blinked rapidly several times.

Still, tears threatened to run down her cheeks in a waterfall.

“I said,” Wynonna made a show of snapping the band that kept the folder close before pushing it back across the table, “that I. Don’t. Care.”

“You...don’t?”

Her sister shook her head, impatience flickering through her face.

“You are an Earp. I don’t care about blood tests or DNA. You are an Earp.” Wynonna’s voice softened and she reached across the table, holding her hands out palm up until Waverly took them.

“The truth is that our family sucks, for the most part, Waves. Dad was an alcoholic.” A grimace twisted Wynonna’s lips and Waverly knew how it must chafe to make that admission - when her sister had spent the majority of her short life blaming herself for Ward Earp’s death, “and Willa… well, we all saw what _kind_ of sort she was.” The pain in Wynonna’s voice was clear, and Waverly found herself squeezing her hands, even though she was herself in need of comfort.

For a moment she fancied she could hear Gus telling them off for speaking ill of the dead, but even she would have agreed that while the words may stink, they were the truth.

But the kitchen remained quiet, only she and Wynonna sitting at opposite ends of the table, Nicole leaning against the kitchen counter, watching them both with a concerned frown.

“And I screw up a lot.” Wynonna took one hand away and patted her rounded belly. “I’ve fucked my life up for so long, and now I may very well end up fucking up another’s. No, Waverly, I don’t care what those papers say. You are an Earp and the best of us. You are the only one that keeps this family from being complete shit.”

The tears that had been threatening to spill down her cheeks finally fell and a choked sob clawed its way up her throat, fighting to be heard, to make itself known to the occupants in the room. She covered her mouth with her free hand to try and silence the sound, but it was no use.

The tears were more from relief than anything else. Relief that despite the proof sitting in the brown folder on the table between them, Wynonna still believed them to be family.

Sisters.

Ever since Bobo had cupped her cheeks in the treehouse, with tears in his blue eyes, and told her she wasn’t an Earp, she had been afraid, _terrified_ of how Wynonna would react when, if she ever found out, that they weren’t really sisters, _family_ , that she had killed her only real sister, the only real family she had left.

She had been terrified that Wynonna would suddenly see her the way Willa did, as an intruder in their home, their family. Something to be hated.

She should have _known_ Wynonna would never see her the way Willa did. She should have _believed_ in Wynonna the way Wynonna believed in her.

She should have faith in Wynonna’s love because Wynonna did love her. She may not always be the best at showing it, but she did.

Another sob escaped, muffled by her hand, but it was unmistakable with the way it shook her entire body.

Out of the corner of her eyes, through a haze of tears, she saw Nicole tense, clenched fists dropping to her sides, and for a second Waverly was sure she was going to move from her spot against the counter, but she didn’t.

And Waverly knew it was because Nicole didn’t want to overstep, didn’t want to get in the way of her and Wynonna getting everything out in the open. She wasn’t able to admit it out loud, not yet, but it was one of the many things she loved Nicole for.

Wynonna squeezed her hand before letting it go and pushing her chair away from the table. For a moment Waverly feared Wynonna was going to leave the room, leave her, but instead she walked around the table and pulled out the chair next to her, sitting down and wrapping her arm around Waverly’s shoulders.

Wynonna rested her forehead against the side of Waverly’s head. “You are my sister. You will always be my sister, Waverly, blood or no blood.”

Waverly leaned into Wynonna’s one arm embrace, drawing strength and courage from the conviction in Wynonna’s voice.

“But if I’m not an Earp, then who am I?”

It was a question she had been asking herself for weeks on end. One she was no closer to having an answer to.

And would she ever even get to find an answer? With Ward gone and their Mama God knows where, would she ever find out who she really was?

Wynonna kissed the side of her head then turned her head with two fingers on her chin. Watery hazel eyes meeting watery blue ones. Wynonna wiped at Waverly’s tears with the pad of her thumb, giving her a smile that showed a hint of her dimples.

“That’s simple. You’re Waverly.” Wynonna looked up over her head, presumably at Nicole before meeting her gaze once again. “And she’s great, the best. You don’t need to be anyone other than Waverly, baby girl.”

_You’re nothing._

A far more cruel voice echoed through the hallways of her mind, and despite her best efforts, Waverly felt herself tense.

_You don’t belong here_. The comforting weight of Wynonna’s arm around her shoulders wasn’t enough to ward off the sinister presence haunting her thoughts. Waverly knew that the memory of Willa’s hateful voice had always been within her, but for years she’d been able to ignore it.

Now that the fact she wasn’t an Earp was written on paper, it was as if Willa’s ghost had gained strength within her. And alongside it, other whispers that had kept Waverly awake at night were coming to light.

She didn’t remember much about Mikshun and the possession - at least not when she was awake - but at night, when her mind was free to wander as she tethered on the edge of sleep, the words the demon had poured into her ear like poison drenched her in cold sweat.

After Nicole and Wynonna had destroyed Mikshun - after she’d seen it as nothing more than a dark stain on the barn’s floor - its mutterings had been easy to discount.

It had told her how she was not Wynonna’s sister and taken great pleasure in doing so, before adding that it would have been best if she drowned in the frozen lake as Willa had planned.

Overwhelmed by all of it Waverly pulled away from Wynonna’s arms more suddenly that she’d intended to. Her sister gave her a look that was more than a bit hurt, and she found that she could not bear to be in the kitchen a moment longer.

Waverly was sure that if she stayed she would start to cry again and her tears would end up flooding the room.

She pushed the chair back so violently it almost toppled, scrambling to her feet a moment later and whirling around to flee upstairs before she was completely upright.

Tears turned her surroundings into a hazy kaleidoscope of confused colors and she almost stumbled on the first step, hands slapping close around the banister so hard her arms quaked with the aftershocks.

Pain flared up from her bruised palms, and somehow afforded Waverly the clarity of thought to right herself and clamber upstairs, too focused on keeping choking sobs on lockdown to acknowledge Wynonna’s voice calling her back.

On the top of the stairwell, she paused, vertigo making her head spin, then she shuffled down the hallway like a drunk, not bothering to look where her feet were taking her.

And that was how she found herself in Willa’s old room. Waverly had spent a lot of time in it, especially when she’d had the Homestead all to herself. It had taken her two weeks to rip the old wallpaper off, and then paint the walls over.

Truth be told she’d gone through the entire room, dismantling it piece by piece to erase the memory of their older sister, but underneath the new appearance traces of Willa lingered.

The voice inside her head turned more insistent, tormenting her in the same way Willa had as they’d been growing up. She remembered the day Willa had made her walk the beam, prodding her all day long and calling her a coward for refusing to climb up on the barn’s loft, before running to their father the moment Waverly took the bait.

She’d gotten into so much trouble, and as her mind traveled back through the years, Waverly could feel the bite of Ward’s Earp belt against her buttocks.

Waverly scrubbed at her eyes, suddenly angry, but her tears wouldn’t stop falling. She caught a warped glimpse of herself in the bedroom’s mirror and, for a moment, it looked like Willa was staring back.

Before she could register what she was doing, Waverly was punching the glass, Willa’s cutting laughter filling her ears.

The mirror shattered in a dozen pieces, distorting Willa’s smug face. Waverly wiped away a fresh wave of tears to clear her vision.

Willa’s image no longer stared back at her, instead, her own reflection blinked at her in the broken shards, eyes puffy and nose red. Tears still streaming in a steady pace down her cheeks, no matter how much she rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

The voices in her head - Willa’s and Mikshun’s - quieted once more, slithering back into the deepest parts of her mind as she registered the stinging in her knuckles. Her gaze dropped to her hand, still clenched into a tight fist.

She watched with unblinking eyes as blood welled up in little droplets along the cuts on her knuckles before rolling down into the crevices in between her fingers.

The pain was oddly comforting in a way. Silencing the voices of people, of things long since dead. Silencing the things that tortured and tormented her in bed late at night, when she laid in the arms of a snoring Nicole.

A creaking floorboard drew Waverly’s attention from the oh so red blood on her hand to the door where Nicole stood, hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans and worry etched into the lines on her forehead as her eyes trained on Waverly’s hand.

Without a single word, Nicole turned on her heels, leaving the room just as quickly as she came.

Waverly stared after Nicole’s retreating form, her chest tightening, her breathing coming in short, shallow pants and another sob threatening to come forth without permission.

She’d known it was only a matter of time before things, before she became too much for Nicole to handle.

She had known it was only a matter of time before Nicole left - it was what everyone she loved did after all - but she had been foolish enough to believe that Nicole wouldn’t leave, would stand by her side for as long as she wanted Nicole to and God, she _wanted_ Nicole to be by her side forever.

_You’re nothing. No one will ever love you. They will always leave you._

Willa’s laughter echoed in her mind once more, mixing with the harsh, cruel laughter of Mikshun.

Waverly wrapped her arms around her middle as if the simple act could hold her together, keep her from falling apart again.

It was a coping mechanism straight from her childhood. She used to hug herself when Ward was on the warpath and Willa was tormenting her. She used to pretend it was Gus, Uncle Curtis, or Mama hugging her, protecting her.

She leaned against the wall next to the mirror, sliding down until her ass hit the cold wood floor and she wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest and trying to drown out the taunting, laughing voices in her head.

The floorboards creaked again and Waverly looked up quickly, nearly giving herself whiplash.

Nicole stood in the doorway again. This time holding the wicker wastebasket from the bathroom and the small metal first aid kit that they kept under the sink for small nicks and scrapes.

Relief blossomed in her chest at the sight of her tall, redheaded girlfriend coming to kneel in front of her.

“Let me see.” Nicole’s voice was barely above a whisper, her movements slow and deliberate as she set down the items she’d been carrying on the floor.

Her eyes never left Waverly’s, and she found that within those mocha depths brimming with kindness, she could anchor herself and ignore the whispers that threatened to drive her insane.

She was dimly aware of Nicole gently tugging her arms open, turning her hands this way and that to examine the cuts she had inflicted on her flesh. Nicole’s touch was firm, and yet somewhat feathered, as if she feared that if she squeezed Waverly’s hands too hard or moved too fast she’d bolt like a frightened deer faced with a hunter.

And it truly felt like a rabbit heart was beating within her chest, its rhythm so frantic against her ribcage that Waverly grew afraid her bones would break like twigs under a booted foot.

But Nicole’s touch was soothing, and little by little her breathing slowed, the metallic taste that had gathered at the back of her mouth dissipating.

She watched Nicole open the first aid kit and take out a bottle of disinfectant. She poured some of it on a piece of clean gauze and then motioned for Waverly to hold out her hands.

“This is gonna sting a little,” Nicole murmured, shooting her an apologetic look, before dabbing at the cuts as gently as she could.

It did more than sting, the disinfectant burning her skin as Nicole thoroughly cleaned each cut, but Waverly welcomed the pain because it silenced the last lingering echoes of Willa’s voice.

After the cuts had been cleaned, Nicole pulled out a box of plaster, applying them carefully to each cut, and Waverly couldn’t help but snort a little when she noticed they were colorful kids ones.

“Wynonna must have been the one to restock the kit last time,” she said with a small chuckle, wiping at the remainder of her tears once one of her hands was freed.

“Clearly.” Nicole smirked and she hesitantly smiled back. It felt good to be able to laugh at something so insignificant, and her heart settled further.  

“You look like you could use a bit of rest.” Nicole stored the supplies back inside their metal box and stood with a grimace, offering her a hand to help her up.

Her fingers were calloused against Waverly’s own, the palm of her hand warm and dry. As always when they touched a part of her that had never truly felt like it belonged slotted home, and Waverly took a step into Nicole’s space, allowing her girlfriend’s arms to close protectively around her.

All the crying had sparked the beginning of a nasty headache that made her neck tense and her shoulders ache. She nodded her agreement to Nicole’s words and rested her head against her girlfriend’s shoulder, but while she’d expected that Nicole would take her to the bed in this room, the redhead gently guided her out into the hallway and towards her own bedroom.

“Sometimes I wish we could burn this house down,” Waverly confessed as they walked, even though she was aware that no matter how fast she ran she could never leave her past behind.

“What about filling it with better memories instead?” Nicole proposed, reaching out to pat a nearby wall almost fondly. The house sighed around them, a gust of wind rattling the window panes as if the Homestead was expressing its agreement.

It sounded so simple, filling the Homestead with better memories, but Waverly wasn’t sure that better ones could replace the memories of the torment Willa put her through as a child, of Ward and his anger towards her and cruel words shouted in a drunken rage.

She doubted that any better, happier memories would erase the memory of watching Willa be taken away, of watching Ward die through the window in the living room. A window she still couldn’t look through without being taken back to that night and all the fear she felt, the sounds of her own screams.

Nicole’s thumb brushed along the back of her hand and Waverly looked up into gentle eyes, and she realized that if better memories were going to help erase all the painful ones this house held then Nicole would have to be a part of them.

Nicole didn’t make all the pain of the past disappear, but she did ease so much of it. She gave Waverly something she had longed for her whole life, a _home_ , a place where she belonged.

Waverly reached up with her free hand, caressing Nicole’s cheek, her thumb dipping into Nicole’s dimple when she smiled down at Waverly. Nicole leaned into her touch before she turned her head and kissed Waverly’s palm then her fingers. Her kisses just as gentle and light as her touch earlier.

One of Waverly’s favorite things about Nicole was how gentle and soft she was when it was just the two of them. How Nicole touched her, held her as if she was the most precious thing in the world.

_I love you._

The words echoed around her mind. This time it was her own voice, not Willa’s, not Mikshun’s. The words were on the tip of her tongue, begging to be spoken out loud, to be heard by Nicole, but Waverly swallowed them down.

“Come on,” Nicole said softly, tilting her head towards Waverly’s room. “I’ll massage your neck and shoulders then you can sleep."

Waverly opened her mouth to protest. She didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want Nicole to think she had to take care of her, but Nicole just shook her head as if she could read her mind.

“You’ll sleep better, Waves, and besides I like taking care of you.”

_I love you_

The words bounced around her mind once more, louder and more persistent than before, and Waverly had to fight to keep them from spilling out her mouth

Instead, Waverly pushed up on her tippy toes and pressed her lips to Nicole’s gently. “You’re too good to me.”

Nicole gave a small, almost sheepish smile, kissing the tip of Waverly’s nose before dragging her nose up the bridge of Waverly’s nose to her forehead where she pressed another kiss. Waverly sighed, her body pressing further into Nicole’s as that feeling of home settled over her once more.

“You deserve the world, Waverly.”

If it had been anyone else who said she deserved the world, anyone other than her honest Nicole, she wouldn’t have believed them, but this was Nicole, who was always truthful with her and always meant every word she said.

“Come on.” Nicole tugged on her hand, leading her the rest of the way to her bedroom. “I may not be able to give you the world right now, but I can give you a massage and help you relax.”

Nicole navigated Waverly’s bedroom in the dark, turning the lamp on the bedside table n, casting the room in a yellowish light and chasing away the darkness. She sat down on the bed, scooting until her back was pressed against the padded headboard, long legs stretched out in front of her with enough space for Waverly to sit in between them

She patted the spot in front of her and smiled over at Waverly, her head tilted to the side in that adorable way Waverly loved.

Her eyes itched with the salt her tears had left behind, and her cheeks were sticky with residues of her pain, a dull kind of ache setting over every inch of her like snow.

Giving in to weariness Waverly climbed on the bed, allowing herself to lay in Nicole’s waiting arms with a small, tremulous sigh. As always when sleep began to whisper honey-tongued and subtle in her ears she tensed and flinched, afraid of the darkness waiting behind her eyelids.

Terrified of the demons that lurked within - these ones far harder to defeat than any Revenant. Self-doubt and loathing, guilt and regret all slithered on her soul like leeches, but most of all Waverly was scared of the black void that she knew resided deep inside her bones, the thing that runs from her the same way ink did on old, forbidden parchments. Mikshun had shown her that she had potential for the kind of evil a possession would inspire, even when alone. She’d hated some of the townspeople long before touching the goo, for the way they had cast Wynonna out and ruined her, and the way they placed a stigma on her younger shoulders just for bearing the Earp name. And if Gus and Curtis had mostly managed to shelter her from the worst of the brunt, there had always been some child in school who was all too willing to repeat what they had home.

They’d only stopped once she had hardened enough to make it clear she’d had it with abuse and bullying.

But the circle of Nicole’s arms was a barrier against the emptiness that threatened to pull her under whenever she dared to dream and the steady beat of her girlfriend’s heart, when she rested her head against Nicole’s chest, was a soothing lullaby that shushed the creatures in the dark.

It made them into nothing but bitter ghosts that clamored in a desperate attempt to not be forgotten.

Waverly let her eyes slip shut and smiled into her girlfriend’s chest, their howls meaningless against the warmth of the love she held for Nicole.

She was dimly aware of Nicole’s fingers working loose the knots that made her back and shoulders ache and, little by little her breathing evened out. Waverly crossed consciously into sleep, and her dreams were blissfully bright, the knowledge that Nicole was holding her chasing everything else away.

***************

Long after Wavery’s breath evened out and she drifted to sleep, Nicole sat up, wide awake, her fingers running through silky hair, stopping every now and then to massage Waverly’s scalp.

Nicole leaned her head back against the headboard and let out a long sigh. She closed her eyes tired of staring at the cracks in the ceiling and ready for sleep to overcome her.

But it never came. Stress and worry for Waverly, for Wynonna and the baby, kept her from falling into the same peaceful slumber Waverly found herself in.

It wasn’t just the worry keeping sleep just out of her reach, but also the ball of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. Uneasiness that stemmed from watching Wynonna execute that Revenant.

She understood that the only way to break the curse was to kill all seventy-seven Revenants and send them back to hell where they belonged, but straight up executing them did not sit well with the cop in her.

She wanted to help Wynonna and Waverly break the curse, to help lift the burden off their shoulders and allow them to live the easy, happy life they so deserved and that put the two parts of herself at war with one another.

The cop part of her, the one that believed wholeheartedly in the law and in due process, was in constant conflict with the part of her that loved Waverly with everything she had.

In the end, one part of her won out against the other, beat the other into submission and that was the part of her that loved Waverly more than she had ever loved anything or anyone else.

Nicole stretched her legs out, careful not to wake Waverly as she did so. With sleep evading her, she was becoming restless and her worry for Wynonna was growing.

Her and Wynonna may not always see eye to eye on things and they may more often than not disagree on what’s best for Waverly, but they were friends. Wynonna was probably one of Nicole’s best friends - not that she’d ever tell Wynonna that.

She’d left Wynonna downstairs alone after a very emotional talk and it didn’t sit well with Nicole. She was wired to fix things, to make sure others were okay, to be there if someone needed to talk, to vent and now that she knew Waverly was okay, at least for the time being, she needed to check on Wynonna.

Nicole’s fingers stilled in Waverly’s hair and she blindly kissed the top of Waverly’s head, smiling against her hair when Waverly nuzzled her chest, letting out a soft, sleepy sigh.

Ever so gently, Nicole shifted Waverly off of her and to the middle of the bed, placing a kiss to Waverly’s temple this time as she pulled the mountain of blankets from the foot of the bed up over her girlfriend, tucking it securely around her.

“Sweet dreams, baby,” Nicole whispered, brushing some of Waverly’s hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. She stared down at Waverly for a few moments, fighting back words she longed to voice.

_I love you, Waverly Earp._

Words so easy to say, and yet so complicated. Words Nicole had wanted to tell Waverly for a long time, and that she had held back, afraid that the life they were leading would cut that love short.

She rubbed the back of her head and sighed again, edging silently away from the bed and closing the door at her back. It was good that Waverly was sleeping - none of them had gotten much of that lately - but the younger Earp even less so. Nicole had lost count of their late night Facetime calls, Waverly trying to pretend that the only reason why she called was that she missed her, the deep shadows under her eyes telling a different story.

There was the worry for Wynonna and the baby of course, but also all the questions about who Waverly _really_ was. The friction that hiding the DNA test results had caused between the two of them was past, but Nicole was hesitant to offer more than a listening ear, afraid that Waverly would think she was trying to meddle again.

Nicole pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she stepped into the kitchen - she had a different Earp to worry about right now.

Wynonna had taken Waverly’s chair at the table, a bottle of whiskey in front of her. She was rolling an empty shot glass between her fingers, back and forth, back and forth across the table’s wooden grain.

Nicole flexed her jaw.

“Wynonna.” She mustered her best cop glare and plopped into the chair across the table.

“I wasn’t gonna drink any!” Wynonna sulked, “just… stare a little.” She slid the empty glass across the table. “Here, you have one for me.”

It was still early enough in the day that alcohol was a problem, not a pastime, but Nicole didn’t have it in her to refuse, Wynonna’s dark eyes full of a pain she seldom showed the outside world.

Nicole poured herself a shot of liquor, filling the glass to the brim after Wynonna harrumphed loudly.

“That’s more like it.” Wynonna nodded with a smirk. “Now down it like I would.”

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“I’m trying to live vicariously through you. Don’t ruin the moment.”

Nicole rolled her eyes but did as she was told, sputtering when the whiskey burned in a fiery line on the way down to her stomach.

“We’ll make an Earp out of you yet.” Wynonna drummed her fingers on the table, then leant back into her chair with a groan. “God, why don’t you just come out already.” She muttered at her belly with a grimace.

Nicole said nothing, the alcohol making her slightly woozy. She could hold her booze, but she hadn’t eaten today yet, and her body was sending her the most painful reminder.

“I know you don’t approve of what I did to that Revenant,” Wynonna said suddenly, expression turning serious. “Due process and all that.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“Wynonna…”

“Don’t _Wynonna_ me.” Wynonna half reached for the bottle before letting her hand drop.

“I was going to say that I know it’s necessary.” Nicole snatched the bottle away and poured herself another shot. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“But you’ll help? For Waverly?”

“For you _both_.” Nicole pointed out.

Wynonna grunted. The usual sardonic smile was plastered all over her face, but Nicole’s trained eyes detected relief in the way her fingers stilled their dance over the table.

“Then I need your help with something since you know laws and whatnot.” Wynonna licked her lips, her hands moving protectively to cover her belly. “It’s about the baby, Nicole. We can’t… I can’t keep her.”

Nicole’s first thoughts were of Waverly.

Waverly who was so excited, so overjoyed about the baby. Waverly who spent most of those sleepless nights reading every baby book she could get her hands on from the small library in town. Waverly who had already started ordering adorable baby clothes, bottles and diapers, a beautiful wooden crib that at this very moment was sitting in Nicole’s guest room.

Waverly was going to be so disappointed, more than likely hurt that Wynonna wanted to give the baby away and as much as Nicole wanted to save Waverly from that pain, from any kind of pain, she believed Wynonna was making the best decision she could in the situation.

She had no doubt that when push comes to shove Wynonna would make a great mother, that with the help of this little family they’ve formed in the last few months baby Earp would never want for anything, would receive all the love in the world, but baby Earp deserved so much more than a life filled with danger lurking around every corner.

Nicole downed the shot she had poured, placing the glass on the table with a little more force than necessary and met Wynonna’s watery blue eyes.

“I think that is for the best,” Nicole nodded more to herself than Wynonna and played with the label on the whiskey bottle in front of her. “Your baby deserves the life, the childhood you nor Waverly never got. They deserve more than the Earp curse hanging over them.”

Wynonna blinked back tears and gazed down at her stomach, fingers spread out across her belly. “I want Gus to have the baby. Do you think you can make that happen?”

Nicole pushed her chair away from the table and stood without a word as Wynonna’s eyes followed her around her table. She pulled the chair next to Wynonna out and sat down, keeping her eyes on Wynonna the whole time.

She placed her hand over Wynonna’s, well aware that the eldest Earp may slap it away at any moment.

Wynonna wasn’t the affectionate type, especially not with Nicole, but she needed to offer Wynonna some sort of comfort. This was a big moment, a huge, life-changing decision and she wanted, needed Wynonna to know that she had someone there for her, someone on her side no matter what.

“I will do _everything_ in my power to get your baby to Gus, safe and sound,” Nicole promised her.

It wasn’t a promise she was making lightly and it was one promise, she’d give her life to keep.

“You can’t tell Waverly. She’ll try to talk me out of it.”

“Wynonna….” Nicole shook her head and sighed, feeling dread seeping in every inch of her being.

She did not want to lie to Waverly. Not about something as important, as big as this.

“I’m not asking you to lie to her, just don’t tell her.”

There was a pleading edge to Wynonna’s voice, a desperation that tore at Nicole’s heart and she knew as much as she didn’t want to lie to Waverly, to keep this from her, she would. For Wynonna. For the baby.

She wet her lips, conscious of Wynonna’s eyes trained on her, pinning her to the spot while she waited for a response. Nicole had to choose her words carefully, needing Wynonna to believe that she was in on this little scheme. The Heir’s jaw was stubbornly set, fixed and tense to the point it was pulling her cheeks taut, and Nicole knew that if she failed to assuage Wynonna’s fears, the mule-headed idiot would just cook up an even crazier plan, try to pull it off alone and possibly get herself killed.

It was not the cold-blooded Revenant hunter she was facing, but a mother, desperate and willing to do anything it took to keep her baby safe.

It was easy for Nicole to go down on one knee from where she was sitting, hand still placed firmly over Wynonna’s. The baby chose that moment to kick, and her heart clenched, fingers closing around Wynonna’s.

“Uh, Haught? I hate to break it to you, but you’re about to propose to the wrong sister.”

Mirth died on her lips when their eyes met.

Nicole didn’t know exactly what expression was on her face, but her bones told her that the moment about to pass between them was one of portent. The Homestead had ceased its endless creaking, and the winds - which always howled like mad coyotes across the prairie - seemed muted, distant, like the world itself had ceased to matter and only the words she was about to say had any weight or consequence.

“I, Nicole Haught, do hereby solemnly swear that I will be loyal to the Earp Heir and her descendants, and that I will to the best of my ability, preserve the family and the peace, prevent offenses and defend the ones who can’t defend themselves.” Her eyes moved to the swell of Wynonna’s belly for a moment, “faithfully, impartially, and according to the law. So help me God.”

By the time she was done, her breath was coming in harsh bursts, as if she’d run around the property ten times. Wynonna’s eyes were bright with tears, and she had to scrub at her face before she could speak.

“Well… I wasn’t expecting a pledge but… thank you, Nicole.” Her voice shook with emotion and the smile she offered was the quivering messy one of a person about to cry openly.

Nicole stood slowly, gently pulling her hands away.

“By the way,” Wynonna continued, a hint of her usual self showing, “if you tell anyone you managed to make me cry I’m killing you.”

“Noted.”

They lingered in awkward silence for a few minutes, both of them studiously avoiding the other eyes.

“So now that you practically swore yourself in service of the Heir, does it mean you do the dishes when it’s my turn?”

Wynonna managed to ask it with a straight face.

Nicole grinned, reaching out somewhat unsteadily, to grab the whiskey bottle and put it away.

“Keep dreaming, _Earp_.”

**Author's Note:**

> find us on Tumblr @avrilsky and @kendrene !


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